Hall of Fame: Vanderbilt never looked back
Horse racing and breeding were never a sideshow or hobby for Hall of Fame Pillars of the Turf inductee Alfred G. Vanderbilt, but grew early on into a burning life’s passion.
Mary SimonJul 24, 2015
Horse racing and breeding were never a sideshow or hobby for Hall of Fame Pillars of the Turf inductee Alfred G. Vanderbilt, but grew early on into a burning life’s passion.
Kiss My Lulu headlines an evenly matched field in Sunday’s $50,000 Angie C. Stakes at Emerald Downs. The meeting’s first stakes for 2-year-old fillies attracted five horses, and one could make a reasonable handicapping argument for any of the five.
Stallions produce far more foals each year and in their lifetimes also exerts a powerful influence on the way we talk about racehorse pedigrees. One hundred or more foals a year and thousands over a lifetime lend themselves to statistical analysis, while one foal per year and perhaps seven or eight in a broodmare’s lifetime does not. How then does one begin to talk about the parentage of 2015 Grade 1 Delaware Handicap winner Sheer Drama?
Robert “Bobby” W. Hall was 85 when he died peacefully at his home at Emerald Acres in Aldergrove with his daughter Sandra Loseth by his side Wednesday morning. Hall will forever be linked to an historic moment in horse racing in North America.
With Kentucky Oaks winner Lovely Maria stubbing her toe in the Delaware Oaks, and Lady Eli sidelined due to laminitis, the door is ajar for someone in the 3-year-old filly division to work her way toward the top. Perhaps one of the eight fillies entered in Sunday’s Grade 1, $300,000 Coaching Club American Oaks at Saratoga can do just that.
The $150,000 California Dreamin’ Handicap at Del Mar on Sunday is custom-made for Rock Me Baby’s summer campaign.
Gimme Da Lute, a winner of graded stakes for 3-year-olds at Santa Anita and Los Alamitos in recent starts, will revert to the California-bred division for his next start.
There were just 53 horses entered on Sunday’s eight-race card, and since Arlington expanded its racing week from three to four days in July, the struggle to fill races with a diminished equine population at a track with purses barely competitive in the region has grown more intense.
Beholder, the two-time champion, will be part of a field of about six or seven fillies and mares in the $300,000 Clement L. Hirsch Stakes at Del Mar on Aug. 1.
LIVE VIDEO: Barretts Del Mar Paddock Sale, starting Saturday, July 25th.